Rain Lily
We were all in pieces. The day I lost my sister was the day Grey went missing.
I walked while sunlight glared against my eyes. My head was stuffed with questions. People around us went on living their ordinary lives, unaware of what we'd gone through yesterday. Seeing them reminded me that they had lives of their own. They didn't know me, and they didn't care about me. But I knew my sister, and I cared, yet I had still watched her slip toward death. My steps were slow and careful; puddles from yesterday's rain dotted the ground. I looked at my reflection in one and saw a girl I no longer recognized. I saw myself. My eyes had darkened, and my face was filled with sorrow.
"Hey, Rain!"
A small, sweet voice called to me. I turned and saw Alora waving, hurrying toward me on quick little steps. A faint smile tugged at my lips as I waved back at my close friend. She stopped in front of me, sweat trickling down her face, breath coming short.
"Sorry… I'm sorry, my mom had to withdraw some cash at the ATM to give me allowance."
I placed my hand on Alora's head.
"Being a little late doesn't hurt anyone. And I'm glad you made it."
Alora smiled and nodded. Her golden hair fluttered in the wind.
"Yester… about yesterday… after all that… do you think Grey is okay?"
My smile slipped, my eyes drifting past Alora's shoulder.
"Isn't that why we're here? To go over where we stand and talk about this 'Aether'?"
I tried to sound as optimistic as I could, but failed. Sorrow was winning in my voice. I looked back at Alora and sighed.
"I'm sorry. It… it wasn't supposed to be like this."
My right hand gripped my left arm.
"I guess I'm just filled with bad luck."
Alora shook her head so fast it was like lightning.
"Don't—don't say that. This isn't your fault."
She tried to meet my eyes, but I kept looking away.
"I know. But I've known Grey a long time, and…"
I stopped. I was afraid to finish the sentence. It took me a full minute to gather my thoughts before I spoke again.
"And after what happened to Kia and Maya, I don't know if I can handle another loss."
Alora didn't speak. She couldn't answer, she just couldn't.
"Damn it…"
I muttered to myself.
"Why does the world have to be this cruel?"
For a moment I turned my back and looked down into the puddle again. But there was no water, only a pool of blood. And in that pool: Maya, Grey, and… Kia. My hand reached toward the reflection but stopped halfway. It wouldn't go any farther. I wanted to join them. I wanted to be together again. Maya had been a close friend; as a kid, I used to watch Grey and Maya all the time, how they played together. And Kia… Kia was always left in my shadow, because of how I treated her, like a shadow. The death that split my family in two wasn't the fault of those bullies. It was mine. I killed my sweet little sister.
"Don't be so dramatic."
A boy`s voice, soft, yet loud, came from ahead. I lifted my eyes from the blood-lake and looked forward. Nico and Nya were walking toward us. Meaninglessness hung on Nya's face, and a sullen look darkened Nico's. I'd asked Nico to come, but I had no idea why Nya was here. It was strange. I mean, what was I thinking? Because of some mystical organization, did Nya also see these aetheric particles now?
What was I even saying? I barely understood what was going on in my own head. I gave a sad little smile.
Nya glanced around, then at me, and finally at Alora still standing behind me.
"She's here too?"
She asked while looking down her nose at Alora, her foot tapping the ground a few times. Her obvious irritation grated on me. I hated when people treated Alora that way, or Grey, because it reminded me of what I'd lost. I frowned and shot Nya a judging look.
"Yes. Tragic for you, but wonderful for everyone else."
There was mockery in my voice, and I didn't regret it. I wasn't going to let her talk like that about Alora. Nya rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. Nico looked first at me, then at Nya.
"Do you guys have to be this hostile with each other? We're—"
"You're the one saying that?"
Nya cut him off.
"For someone who only ever felt hatred toward Grey, that's rich."
Nico opened his mouth to retort, then shut it with a groan.
"You don't have to be this full of yourself," I told Nya. My tone was honest and gentle; I didn't want a fight to break out, so I had to choose my words carefully.
Nya shrugged.
"I'm not full of myself, I'm just stating facts. Anyway."
She pulled her gaze off me and turned to Alora.
"I didn't mean to upset you."
She said it sincerely. I honestly didn't expect those words from Nya. Alora, still behind me, shivered, her face blooming red.
"It's… it's fine, really."
Her lips trembled as she spoke. I took a breath at the sight of Alora. My questions weren't over; I still needed to talk to Nya.
"Are you seeing purple particles around?" I asked her directly.
Nya raised one brow. "Huh, what? What's that even supposed to mean?"
I sighed and shot a flat look at Nico.
"Why is she here?"
I asked the boy. Nico didn't answer immediately; he was gathering his thoughts. When he finally decided, he spoke:
"I just saw her on the walk and I thought that… she could join us."
I put a hand to my face at the ridiculousness.
"You're trying to change so much it's bleeding into your entire life."
A laugh slipped out.
"Sometimes you're really funny, Nico."
He pouted, rolled his eyes, and looked at Alora.
"Whatever. Now that we've thawed the ice between us, can we talk about what the hell we're going to do?"
Nya gave him a puzzled look.
"About… what exactly?"
To my surprise, it was Alora who answered.
"Th-these purple particles… the Aether… and… Grey disappeared."
She said it outright. Nya stared at Alora, stunned. What I was witnessing felt so weird and senseless I was going to fall apart. Alora tended to say too much when she tried to explain things. Most of the time when she tried to tell me something, she spiraled into babbling. Nya looked at me confused. Alora, noticing how much she just failed, fell silent and dropped her gaze to the ground. I sighed and turned my attention to Nya, then began describing everything that had happened yesterday, step by step. Now and then it seemed like Nya had questions, but whenever she opened her mouth to ask, she shut it again. By the time I finished, the color had drained from her face.
"So…"
She didn't continue. She was still trying to put my account together. At last, she spoke.
"What the actual fuck? How? This is all just… I don't know what to say. I can't believe any bit of what you just said, it just feels overwhelming in some way."
Nya took a very long breath, then let it out slowly.
"Grey… Grey's okay though, right?"
There was real worry in her voice.
"We don't know. None of us knows nor understands anything," Nico answered.
"Wherever shithole Grey is in, he'd better crawl out fast, because something in my gut says this is about to go completely to hell."
Nya didn't respond to Nico. She just froze where she stood. I watched her a moment longer, then turned to Nico.
"We should go somewhere less crowded. Let's head into one of the side alleys."
I put my idea on the table. Alora and Nico nodded in agreement, but of course Nya did not.
"Side alleys are the most unsafe parts of Lineage City. Just the other day, a guy got knocked out in his own restaurant."
She pushed back against my plan.
"It'd be better to go to a café on the main road."
Her suggestion made sense in one way, but in another…
"We can move more freely in the alleys. The last thing I need is people thinking we're insane."
Nico snapped back at her. Nya shrugged, then nodded her reluctant consent. She accepted it way to soon then I anticipated. So we started walking, and without overthinking it, ducked into the first side alley we saw. I didn't go into alleys very often. As far as I knew, they were the most dangerous places in Lineage City. The deeper we went, the more the light drained away. I felt as if we were walking inside walls of small, old houses, like the interior of a cramped fort. The gaps between them were so narrow it was unsettling. Someone on the other side could easily peek in while someone changed their clothes. I glanced back to check on my friends. Alora kept close behind me, Nico wore an indifferent mask, and Nya looked anxious. Nico seemed the most at ease among us.
"Well, at least we've got a guy with us who knows how to fight a little," I thought. I rarely got along with Nico. I didn't talk to him much, and when I did, we spoke decently. I'd always wondered why he hated Grey so much, but thinking of what happened yesterday, I figured maybe he was trying to change. Of course, no one changes that fast. Real change, and success takes time and patience. Grey wasn't that different from Nico, really. At least Nico could realize a few things; Grey didn't have that talent. He often acted without caring about other people's feelings. Sometimes he could be worse than Nico. Maybe that was the reason.
A cold gust threaded through my hair, pulling all my focus. My black hair whipped back and I stopped in place. Because I stopped so suddenly, Alora bumped into me, Nico into Alora, and Nya into Nico.
"Hey, who just stops like that?" Nico snapped.
"Sorry. The wind distracted me. I think—"
My words were cut off by the rats rushing across the ground toward us. When Nya saw them, she screamed and pressed closer to Nico. But there was something odd here. It wasn't just a few rats. Hundreds, maybe thousands, scurried past our feet. They weren't coming at us; they were fleeing from something. When the last of them hurried by, I stared ahead. In the depths of the alley, I saw a shadow. Almost without thinking, I stepped toward it, but out of the darkness came only a small cat, black as absolute night. It was cute. Alora emerged from behind me when she saw it, her eyes going soft. The cat mewed a few times, then slipped back into the dark. Alora's face fell when it vanished. I put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.
"It's just a cat. Don't be upset."
"I think it was a really good predator. Scaring off that many rats must take some work. Truly a monster." Nico said.
Alora shot Nico a mildly annoyed look. She loved cats. If not for her allergies, she'd probably have adopted every stray cat she found. As much as I loved Alora, sometimes she could be a little too naïve.
"If even a cat can chase off that many rats, the rats won't be a problem for us, right?" Nya asked in a trembling voice.
Nico gave a careless nod. "Yeah, yeah. A couple rats won't hurt anyone."
Nya inhaled and exhaled deeply. "I hate rats," she muttered. I looked back into the darkness where the cat had gone. Something inside told me we needed to go there, but something else told me to stay put. Before I could decide, Alora moved first. She stepped into the dark. I reached to catch her by the shoulder but hesitated. The part of me that wanted to enter won out.
"I'm not going in there," Nya said, shaking her head. "No power on Earth could drag me into that darkness."
Nico looked from us to Nya. "Don't be such a baby," he said. "We still have things to talk about."
He grabbed Nya by the arm and dragged her toward the dark. She tried to break his grip but wasn't doing a great job of it. Alora went in first, then me, then Nico and Nya. My vision should have been worse in there, but I could see. I could see everything. I could even see the aetheric particles drifting around us. I could see better than in sunlight. It felt like the world was lit not by a star, but by a constellation. I wanted to understand Aether as much as the others did, but what I wanted most was to learn how to use it and bring Kia back. I wanted my sister back. I didn't know how, but I was ready to learn anything for it.
In the dark, Alora stopped and turned to look at me. Worry was etched on her face.
"Rain? Are… are you still there?"
She asked in a shaking voice. I giggled and answered my friend.
"Yeah, yeah. There's nothing to be scared of."
Alora let out a breath and kept walking.
"Normally, I'd oppose group decisions like this a lot faster, but I still can't figure out why we're here," Nya said, frightened.
"I don't know either. But my instincts told me to go this way," I answered honestly.
But my answer was drowned out by the sudden sound of bells. They rang as if celebrating something. They echoed inside my ears. They didn't bother me, but they didn't soothe me either. They were just there. The bells seemed to move in a rhythm. "Ding. Ding. Ding." Then again: "Ding. Ding. Ding." And once more: "Ding. Ding. Ding."
All of us focused on the sound.
"What the fuck? What the hell was that?" Nico's stance and voice were thick with unease. Alora stepped back toward me, and Nya glanced behind us, like she was ready to bolt for the light. But I kept going.
"Rain!" Nico called from behind me.
I didn't stop. I kept walking. The darkness I lit existed only there. Pools of blood began to form on the ground; I didn't know why, but it didn't matter, because I kept going. The bells sang again, and with every second, more pools spread. I reached the end of the dark. The place where true feelings and purposes lived. Blood ran down the walls. Flesh and bone erupted from the floor. Eyes watched me. The Eyes of Calamity were there. Purple and Gold eyes. Figures began to take shape around me. aetheric particles rose and danced. I stopped and looked ahead. Pure white looked back at me.
The Organizer stood before me.
"Your dream really is wake and evil. Awakened Rain, you have truly outdone the calamity. The Constellation That Sees Everything, Awakened Rain."
The Organizer's voice halted as the others caught up behind me.
"Rain!"
Alora clutched at me, but when she saw who stood before us, she staggered back in terror and screamed. Nico came to my side and stared straight into the Organizer's eyes.
"You."
It was the only word that came out of his mouth, hard and sharp. Nya looked around, trying to make sense of anything. The Organizer laughed savagely, and in a blink, appeared behind Nya, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. Nya whipped around, saw nothing, then faced forward again, and her eyes flew wide in horror.
"What… what the hell are you?"
Her whole body shook as fear, panic, and dread filled her voice. The Organizer stood before us again.
"Awakened Rain, Awakened Nico, Awakened Nya, Awakened Alora, all of you are signed to supremacy. The Four Horsemen of Destruction."
Aether particles bled from the Organizer's body, but they weren't violet. They were blood-red. His voice flattened, joking no longer. Its severity carried a will so absolute it felt annihilating.
"Rain Lily, the Horseman of Death; Nico Cylrit, the Horseman of Conquest; Alora Sky, the Horseman of Famine; Nya Jet, the Horseman of War. All of you have reached the second awakening of Eclipsera. But all of your trials are just beginning."
Four figures formed around the Organizer, each radiating blood-red Aether. I hadn't seen them before, yet their names stamped themselves into my mind: Last Enigma, True Justice, Humanities Shadow, and Angel of Imagination. Humanities Shadow was a darkness that devoured all light; True Justice's short violet hair and cosmic purple eyes were soothing; the Angel of Imagination's presence and wings filled me with peace, but that peace vanished when I looked at the Last Enigma. And still, they all shared one thing: a single intent. It was as if five exalted guardians stood before me.
"The Concepts of War, Conquest, Famine, and Death. All of you are bestowed the runes of your dreams and desires."
As the Organizer spoke, all our heads tilted back at once, exposing our throats. We couldn't move; we could only watch. The Organizer stood in the middle of the four of us, and two more arms emerged from the darkness of his body. All four hands clamped around our necks. A searing pain tore through my throat, flooding my senses and thoughts. I clenched my teeth. Alora and Nya screamed in agony; Nico roared. Every second felt like an eternity. My life flashed before my eyes, and then destruction. My soul slipped free and saw. The deaths and births of people, the war between darkness and light, the rushing of time, the aimless motion of space. Memories crashing against feelings. I saw to the very end of Eternity, and beyond that, things I could not grasp: those who lie in the deepest parts of the cosmos and watch; those who are not bound to a dimension; those who crawl from nightmares; those who hold the universe upright. The singular divinities born from the Violets.
"Don't be so weak, Awakened."
The Organizer's dark voice rang through the whole universe, and that echo called me back. My soul rejoined my body, and I came to. I collapsed to the ground in pain, trying to understand where I was. I was back in the alley, and there was no strangeness left, no beings at all. My friends writhed on the ground beside me, groaning in pain. I couldn't lift a hand to any of them. The burning in my neck hadn't faded, but I tried to stand anyway. With what strength I had left, I pushed myself up, only managing to sit. I looked at my friends and saw a symbol on each of their necks, more precisely, a rune. On Alora's neck, a small plate that evoked famine; on Nico's, two swords clashing like war; on Nya's, a sharp, four-petaled flower like conquest. I couldn`t see the rune on my own neck, not physically, but I felt it in my mind: a serpent devouring its own tail, the image of infinity, a symbol of death.
Before me, a pool of blood had formed. I didn't know whose blood it was, but that didn't matter. What mattered was the reflection in it. Looking back at me from the blood was a girl whose face was carved with war-scars. Already exhausted, already tired. She was me...